Electric make-and-break device.



G. B. LAWRENCE. ELECTRIC MAKE-AND BRBAK DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SBPT.25,1912.

Patented July 14 1914.

2 SHEETS SHEET 1;

G E. LAWRENCE.

ELECTRIC MAKE-AMJ-BILEAK DEVICE.

APFLIOA'lION FILED SEPT.25,1912. 1,103,913 Patented July 14,19z4

and the lnpmentary and positive1nnke-andbreak of another contact bysimilar revolurecording "tion.

GEORGE E. LAXVRENCFE, OF PBILADELPI'HA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO HYDROMANUFACTURING COM?ANY, TION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

03: PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- ELECTR-IC MAKE-AND-BREAKDEVICE.

Application filed To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, Grouse E. Lnwnnnon, a citizen of the United States,residing atlliihrdclphim in the county of Philadelphia and State orPeuns 'lvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inElectric Make-and-llruik Devices, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to those devices \\'hich have for their object themake-andbrcak of an electric circuit.

Specifically my invent-ion provides for the momentary and positiveinake-and-break of one electric contact. by continuous or irregularlyinterrupted revolution in one direction tion in thc-op ;)ositedirection, by which various results may be attained, such for 1nstance,as the operation of an automatic water-level recording device at adistance, it

may be of several miles, from the point at which the water-levels aretaken.

By my invention a rotating body or wheel which may turn or run in eitherdirection with an intermittent or continuous movement [8 caused to closecircuits for short inthese circuits may be employed for dnpli; catingata distance, the movements of the wheel .or body.

I. will describe my invention in connect on with a water-levelrecordinginstrument, although it will be understood that. I donot -1nany way limit my invention to that use. My. invention will'be' clearlyunderstood from the following description and the a'c-' portions of afront elevation showing normal position of electric contact trips, andFig. 5, 1s a diagrannnatgtfvle r of. awater level 9, is a contact wheelattached to the shaft 7.

10, is a set screw by which the s rocket wheel isheld from rotation onthe s aft.

51166151281101} of Letters Patent.

ajwparatns cmbodving my invcn- The shaft 7 is czirried by brackets -11,'

mounted on a base 12, of non-conducting materiz-nl, one of said bracketscarrying also the binding post 13 which isinclectric eon-,i'iection'with the contact wheel 9.

14 and 14 are metal supports projecting from the base 12 on eitherside-of the contact wheel. Piroted on these supports are trip levers 15,15 which have pivoted at their inner, shorter ends, trips or dogs'ltiand 16 of non-conducting materinll The outer, longer arms of the triplevers 15 and 15- nornially rest upon stops 17 and 17, so that the triplevers lie iirpractical alinement n either side of the center of thecontact wheel. The dogs or trips 16, 16 have outwardly projecting tailswhich are nor-- mally held against stops 18, 18 by springs 19, 19, as'shown iii-Figs. 1 and 4E. The inner ends of the trips 1 6, 16 projecttoward each other and lie in the path of pins 20 which project from thefaces of the rim of the contact wheel. The outer periphery of thecontact wheel has cut away port-ions, leaving raised contacts or teeth21 located angularly midway between the pins 20. Contact springs 22,.ZQfi carried by the tr o tervals of time and again break them, thusavoiding waste at electrical energy, and

they just escape making. contact with the ra ed contactsill when thetrip lovers are lying at rest on stops 17, 17. Howc\'er,

when one of the trip levers is turned on its pivot, from the position of15, in Fig. 4, to-

that in Fig. 1, the are described by the end of the Contact springallows it to, wipe one of the raised contacts 21, will be .described,thereby making temporary electrical contact between binding-post 13 andbinding posts 2 or 23*, on the supports 1st, 14.

-As' shown in Fig. 1, the chain 24 acting on the sprocket wheel turnsthe contact wheel 9 in, for example. the direction of the arrow, and oneof the pins 30 operating on the trip 16 has turnwl lt'Yvr 1.5 as shown.In its movement so far, the. contactspring 22 has turned tha g1 "(hrabove .menlioncd are. but no contact was made as th contact wheel at'theinstant rcseo.ted a cut away portion to thecontactspring. A slightfurther turn. of the contact wheel beyond that shown in Fig. 1 willallow the trip 16 to pass the pin 30, the long arm of the trip leverbeing of Patented July 1 1914. d September 25, 19x2. Serial No. 722,228.

rest on stop 17 and in this return motion'of the trip lever, the contactspring returning throughlth'e above mentioned arc, finds a -raisedcontact 21 presented to it and momentarily closes electric connectionbetween binding posts 13 and 23. In the meanwhile a pin,20 on theopposite side of the contact wheel, has operated on trip 16?. In this'ne't on is made.

case,'however, the trip is=merely turned'on its'pivot until'it is freedfrom the pin 20,

when spring 19", returns it to its normal position against stop 18 andno electric conp In the reverse rotation of the cpntact wheel exactlysimilar ,action' takes place, only in this case trip lever is turned andcontact spring 22" closes the electric connection between binding posts13 and 23", trip 16 meanwhile turning on its own pivot.

a In the use to which this device may be put'as exemplified in Fig. 5,it is'mou'nted on the stationary frame. work a, arranged above thewater, whose level it is desired to record. One of the reaches of thechain 24 carries a float b, resting. on. the surface of the water. Anopen ended pipe 0 protects chain and float-from surging and outsideinfluences, [Theother reach of the chain 24 carries. a counterweightdand is similarly protected-by a pipe e.

f,'is a convenient form of chronograph, consisting of a paper carryingcylinder 9 rotated by clockwork and a recording pencil 12, carried on aworm i which is'rotated by a ratchet wheel 9'.

k, m, are solenoids. carrying pawls which operate on either side of theratchet wheel 7'.

The chronograph may be located in the .ofiice orlin any similarly.convenient place which'may be at a distance of several miles from thepoint where the water level is beingmeasured, and the solenoids k,'m,may be connected electrically with the binding 'posts on mymake-andbreak device .in the following manner: 1 and 'o'are relaVs hav ing oneof the ends of their coils connected by conductors or wires p and g,with the binding posts 23, 23. Awire or co uctor 'r-,-leads from thebinding post 13, through a batteryor source .9 to the opposite ends oflug the contact wheel 9 in one direction or the other, and making atemporary circuit through wires 7) and 1', or wires g and r. Tl'llSelectric pulsati n or c-ircuitof short duration is relayed on to eithersolenoid I: or m, which acts to rotate the ratchet wheel 7', and eitherraise or lower the position of the recording pencil h. As the level ofthe water continues to rise or fall, successive contacts are made on oneside or other of the contact wheel, and electric pulsations carry theaction to the chronograph, and move the pencil up or down. The step bystep mdtion of the contact wheel is in this way to act atvariations ofone-half inch in the level of the water,'or less if desired. The

speed of passage of the contact spring 22-or.

22, inits contact are depends upon the weight of'the long arm of itstrip lever,

exactly duplicated in the distant ratchet wheel of the chronograph, andmay be made which may be made just sufficient to give the desired lengthof contact of the spring with the raised contacts 21.

- Having now fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An electric make-and-break device comprising the combination of awheel revoluble in two directions and having on its rim contact teethspaced apart, a pair of pivotal levers having contacts clear-mg saidteeth when the levers are in normal position, and complementalprojections on the wheel and movable dogs on the levers whereby uponrotation of the wheel one of said levers is turned and released to makemomentary wiping contact and the other lever remains at rest in itsnormal position, substantially as described.

2. An electric make-and-break device comprising the combination of arevoluble .wheel having on its rim contact teeth spaced apart, a pivotallever tending to return to normal position andprovided with acontactclearing said'teeth when the lever; is in normal position, and meansoperated by the revolu tion of the wheel and adapted to turn said leverwith its contact between and clear of said teeth, and then to releasesaid lever and permit it in returning to normal position to wipe itscontact over and'past a tooth.

'3. An electric makeand-break device comprising a toothed contact wheelrotatable in two directions, a vibratory contact normally out of rangeof the wheel and provide with means for causing it to wipe a tenth ofthe wheel, and means inoperative when the wheel turns in one directionand operative when the wheel turns in the other direction to shift thecontact and release it and permit it to automatically Wipe a tooth,substantially as described.

GEO. E. LAWRENGE.

Witnesses:

A. B. STOUGHTON, CLIFFORD K. CASSEL.

